Are the USB drivers asking for an update? Drivers are tiny programs that allow interaction between your computer and other components. In this guide, I will let you know how to update USB drivers in Windows 11/10.
What Are USB Driver Issues?
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards aimed to create a method of common networking for computer devices, including the protocol for exchanging data and instructions between computers and peripheral devices. Sometimes it may not work correctly.
If you upgrade your operating system or buy a new USB device like a printer or mouse, or external drive, you may encounter several types of problems such as:
- Your device is not recognized by the computer when plugged into the USB port.
- Although the device manager recognizes the device, a yellow warning icon indicates that you cannot use it in its current state.
- Windows has automatically installed a driver, but the device doesn’t seem to be working.
- Outdated drivers can cause conflicts with other devices
- Infecting or damaging drivers can cause your system to crash unexpectedly
You can solve these issues by updating the USB driver.
How to Update USB Drivers on Windows 11/10?
The USB driver needs to be updated after some time. Here are some of the methods that will help you update your USB driver.
- Using Windows update
- Using Device Manager
- Update your USB driver manually
You will need an administrator account to follow these suggestions.
1] Windows Update
Windows also update drivers using the Windows update functionality. It looks for drivers to upgrade on both scheduled and user-initiated Windows updates.
Follow these steps to update your USB driver using Windows Update:
- Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update
- Right under it, look for a clickable link—View optional updates.
- Under Driver Updates, a list of updates will be available, which you can choose to install if you are facing an issue manually.
- From there, you can choose to update your USB drivers to the latest stable version.
This feature is helpful as you can see all the driver updates available for your system here in one place. If you have a specific problem because of an outdated driver; then, you can choose to install it.
2] Device Manager
Use Win + X to open Power Menu and select Device Manager. Right-click on a device, and click on Update Driver. When it fails to find a driver, Device Manager shows a Search for updated drivers on Windows Update, which opens the Settings app to the Windows Update page. To find this button, right-click a device and select Properties. Select Update Driver and then Search automatically for drivers > Search in Windows Update on the Driver tab.
In case you get another option when you ask Windows to find an update. Click on the link— Search for updated drivers on Windows Update— and then select View optional updates > Driver updates to install the drivers manually.
3] Update your USB driver Manually
If you want to update your drivers manually, there are a few ways.
- Download the driver from OEM Website.
- Right-click the Start menu > select Device Manager.
- Select the USB device where you want to update the driver from the USB devices list.
- Right-click it, then select the Update Driver.
- Please select the option Browse my computer for the driver software for the new driver.
- A browser window will open, allowing you to select the file from the folder where you saved the downloaded driver.
- After you’ve selected the new driver, click Next to begin the update.
The driver will be updated with your downloaded file.
4] Update using Third-Party Driver Updater Software
If you do not want so many steps and all of it doesn’t sound very clear, it is best to use professional third-party software to download and install the driver. These applications maintain a database of thousands of drivers, and the chance of missing an update is low.
Some of these are paid, while others are free. So check the link, and figure out which one works best for you.
Update USB Drivers are accessible but can be tricky at times. I hope this post will help you update USB drivers on Windows 11/10. Windows Update can download the updates relatively quickly, but at times can result in issues.
Why is my USB not detected?
There could be many reasons for this; here are a few common problems and their solution for which the USB might not be showing up:
- Make sure your USB device is on. For some USBs, the power must be supplied by a separate cable or physical button that you must turn on manually for the device to be detected by your computer.
- Make sure the USB stick does not have cracks. You should check the flash drive physically to rule out any issues before trying again. It’s possible that the flash drive was damaged without your knowledge.
- It would help if you restarted your computer. There is no doubt that this is an old standby of tech support, but it fixes many problems, mainly resulting from software malfunctions.
- Make sure your computer is fully loaded: Just before connecting the USB stick. A slow computer can get overwhelmed with all the operations it has to perform during startup, so your USB stick might be ignored.
How do I open the USB on Windows?
- Place the flash drive in the USB port of your computer. Whether you have a desktop or a laptop, you may find a USB port located on your device’s front, back, or side.
- You may see a dialog box depending on your computer’s settings. To open the files, select the Open folder option if it appears.
- One can open the File Explorer in case no dialog box appears. Navigate to the left side of the window and click on the flash drive. Please note that a flash drive may have a different name.
